


Getting an Angel (Guardian Angel AU)

by ShyestOfHearts



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Guardian Angel AU, ml dc crossover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-07 19:10:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20822369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShyestOfHearts/pseuds/ShyestOfHearts
Summary: Damian Wayne had never entertained the thought of being a guardian angel, he had been raised believing that it was beneath him. When he went to live with his father, Bruce Wayne, he grew unsure. His father was one of the best guardian angels there were. Then Damian became Marinette's guardian angel, and nothing was ever going to be the same.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A very big thanks to my lovely beta readers @mysnis @animusmelodiam @rhub4rb @justarandomtumblerblog and @royalchaoticfangirl on tumblr as well as the awesome beta readers in the Maribat discord!

Damian was 10 years old when he went to live with his father, Bruce Wayne. From the time he was born, Damian was told that being a guardian angel was beneath him, and yet his father was said to be one of the best. Bruce and his ward had a mutual understanding of each other. His ward, Sabine Cheng, was quite protective of her daughter, though many people said that was a result of the fact her daughter seemed to have no guardian angel to call her own. Bruce was protective of his own kids, who may not have been his by blood like Damian was, but were beloved to him nonetheless. He was so protective because he was only eight, just having gotten his ward, when his parents suddenly faded. Their wards had been in a terrible accident that his parents hadn’t stopped, they had been with Bruce after all, and their connections hadn’t been severed before their wards’ demise.

Damian couldn’t understand it. He had been taught that angels were powerful beings who had no use being tied to fragile mortals who couldn’t look out for themselves. He had been taught that humans were beneath him, and Bruce and his parents had been used as an example of this to him. They had taught him that if his parents hadn’t been tied to mortals in the first place, Bruce wouldn’t have lost them.

Yet Bruce continued to protect his ward from that day on, even taking in other angels whose parents had faded. Then he nearly lost his son Jason Todd, who’s ward fell into a coma and has yet to awaken. The boy barely survived fading, and for a while, everyone was certain that he had. Until one day he showed back up again. He doesn’t like to talk about what happened. 

It had taken Bruce a while to chip away at that toxic conditioning to help Damian see the truth. Bruce would sometimes take Damian with him to show Damian how important being a guardian angel was. Sometimes Dick Grayson would too, seeing as Dick’s ward was Tom Dupain, Sabine’s husband. Usually, Bruce would have his son guard Marinette Dupain-Cheng. 

At first, Damian was annoyed and tried to ignore the girl. He didn’t understand what his father was trying to do. However, all that time his father made him spend with the girl had him noticing certain things about her. He noticed she rarely ever missed an opportunity to help someone unless she was physically unable to do anything to help them. She even left a thank you note to him one time after overhearing Sabine and Bruce talking- something that went against the rules for which Bruce didn’t seem to care- about how Damian was looking after Marinette in attempts to teach Damian a lesson.

Damian decided that if he couldn’t understand her now, he would just have to stick around long enough to be able to do just that. He got his chance when Alfred, who kept an eye on Bruce and his kids, offered to have Damian be Marinette’s guardian angel, to which he accepted. It definitely did not have anything to do with the way she would leave snacks out for him, or the way her tongue would peek out between her lips whenever she was really focused on a sketch, nor the way her smile seemed to light up any room. No, he simply required more time with her in order to understand her, that was all.

Damian was astounded that anyone could ever do anything to hurt someone who wouldn’t even hurt a fly. Chloe Bourgeois seemed to make it her life goal to make Marinette miserable. Damian found himself growing irritated as he had to keep his ward safe from the blonde more often than not. However, nothing with this task proved too difficult. At least it hadn’t until she turned thirteen and was given the miraculous of creation.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, a big thanks to my lovely beta readers @mysnis @animusmelodiam @rhub4rb @justarandomtumblerblog and @royalchaoticfangirl on tumblr as well as the awesome beta readers in the Maribat discord!

Damian swore he never wanted to throttle someone more than that day when his ward was thrown straight into the deep end with no guidance or anything to help her. Naturally, he donned a new outfit and went to go help her fight this “akuma” as Tikki had called it. He couldn’t have people recognizing him, should he ever need to show himself while his ward was a civilian. Damian did his best to help during the fight, but Tikki had gotten him alone and asked him to be careful, and remain unseen. If he remained unseen he could be their secret weapon later on. He agreed to as much and found himself relatively unimpressed with her partner, but figured if he had been chosen there must at least have been potential there.

Oh how wrong Damian had been. 

Then there was the first time Marinette saw her guardian angel, rather than just feeling his presence or hearing his small, slightly awkward reassurances. She appreciated that he tried, and it tended to get his point across even if he couldn’t always find the words. Damian had been a stickler for the rules for as long as he had been a guardian angel, after all, how else could he prove himself to everyone? Even if his own family tended to disregard the rules themselves. She was content just knowing he was there, and noticing when the gifts she left for him were gone always seemed to bring a smile to her face. She also noticed that Tikki seemed to enjoy talking to her angel, so that must be a good sign, right? 

Nothing had prepared her for seeing her angel for the first time. He was a boy her own age, she noted, with dark hair and light brown, glowing wings. Marinette’s thoughts came to a jolting stop as soon as she realized. Angels’ wings only glowed when they were mad beyond measure, which meant she had better calm her angel down as soon as possible.

“It’s really okay!” Marinette stumbled forward, laying her hand gently on his arm. Damian barely turned his head to acknowledge her, his eyes not leaving the- stupidly confident- form in front of him. Evidently they were either too dumb to realize the danger they were in, or too dumb to care. Marinette was worried about this confrontation being seen. She had de-transformed rather far from home when her time ran out, and she had been walking back when Chat had noticed her, asking her if she was okay now that the danger was taken care of. That had set her angel off as he seemed to appear out of nowhere.

“If you had done your job without goofing off, flirting, and treating all of this like some big game,” Damian spat the last word out as if it disgusted him, “Marinette wouldn’t have been in danger in the first place.” Chat Noir, clearly, did not pick up on the icy tone that promised that whatever came next would not be fun for the leather-clad superhero, as he merely shook his head with a cocky smile, as if to say he had everything under control. 

“Everything was under control, I had the little lady in my sight the whole time!” He insisted. Damian all but growled at the nickname both Chat Noir and Evillustrator had given her that night.

“Is that so? Because the way I see it,” Damian’s voice was dangerously low as his wings grew brighter, “she was coerced into a date by an akuma, caught up and trapped in some box with you when things went wrong, and forced to get you both out of the situation. Something which you took credit for when you said she could thank you later.”

“Hey! My baton got us out of there and Mari was safe when I left her!” Chat Noir frowned, feeling the angel wasn’t giving him enough credit. 

“She was the one who told you to use the baton! Then you grabbed her waist, something she was clearly not comfortable with as she removed your hand! And that’s another thing,” Damian’s wings were almost blindingly bright by this point. “As soon as the akuma ran off you left her with no way to get home!”

“Angel, please,” Marinette begged. That’s what fully caught Damian’s attention, his eyes finally leaving the cat-themed hero. “I really just want to go home,” she offered, hoping that would keep the guardian angel from killing her only partner. Damian stared for a long, hard moment, his jaw clenched as his eyes flicked back towards Chat Noir. Suddenly the tension in his body seemed to be released, though he was far from calm, and he gently scooped the smaller girl into his arms. The glow of his wings had faded, and he merely sent one last glare towards Chat Noir before flying Marinette home to rest. Shaving a stray cat could come after making sure Marinette was well rested and doing okay.

Once they were home, Damian set her down expecting her to get ready for bed. He hadn’t expected her to turn to him and ask a question.

“What was that about?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again a big thanks to my beta readers @mysnis @animusmelodiam @rhub4rb @justarandomtumblerblog @royalchaoticfangirl and @particularlygeeky on tumblr as well as the awesome beta readers in the Maribat discord!!
> 
> The first three chapters were already written, which is why they came out so quickly, but chapter 4 is still being written and will need revision afterwards so it will take some more time to come. I'm hoping it will be worth the wait!
> 
> Ps you guys are getting chapter 3 earlier than Tumblr because I cannot schedule posts/updates on AO3 the way I can on Tumblr, whoops. Shhh our secret okay?

“I don’t know what you mean,” Damian huffed, averting his eyes from her calculating gaze. 

“Angel-” 

“Damian, actually.”  
Marinette blinked, she hadn’t expected him to give her his name so quickly. Many angels that stayed out of sight took a very long time to open up and give their names to their wards.

“Damian,” Marinette was almost frustrated how happy it made her that he gave her his name when she was trying to be serious. “You’re my angel, you know that I’m Ladybug, so why did you freak out on Chat Noir like that?”

“Tt, the way you were treated tonight was unacceptable, that’s why,” Damian stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

Marinette blinked several times, her mouth dropping open slightly. “It’s really fine Damian-”  
“No it isn’t,” he cut her off, his voice firm. “He was flirting with you both as Marinette and Ladybug despite him claiming to love Ladybug so much, he belittled your feelings when you were clearly upset, and he spent most of the time showing off, what was up with his flexing and over-the-top movements that, frankly, wasted energy instead of being useful? You had to work even harder because you were being both yourself and your alter ego, you were on a date you never wanted to be on, and you could have been hurt. Nothing about that is okay,” by the time he had finished, he no longer averted his gaze and she could see the concern that lay beneath his anger. 

“You’re right,” she sighed, “it wasn’t okay, and frankly I didn’t expect him to show up while I was walking home. I’m glad you were there, and thank you for bringing me home by the way. But we’re here now, safe in my room, so let’s just calm down and get some rest, okay?”

Damian took notice of how her shoulders drooped and she seemed to be struggling to keep her eyes open. With a small sigh, he grabbed some pajamas out of drawer for her and sent her to get changed while he cleared her room up a little and got her a glass of water. As soon as she came back he gave her the glass and shuffled her into bed.

“Thank you for showing yourself to me. I know that technically that’s against the rules, but it was really nice to be able to put a face to my angel.”

It was spoken so softly Damian only just barely heard it, but once he did, he couldn’t forget it and suddenly he found himself thinking that maybe breaking a rule now and then wasn’t so bad. Just as he was about to leave, Tikki flew up to him.

“Thank you for taking care of Marinette tonight, I know you weren’t happy about her being Ladybug at first.”  
“Tt, regardless of how I feel about her being a superhero at such a young age, that choice is hers to make and I would never take that freedom from her. And I will always take care of her regardless of those choices, I am her guardian angel after all,” Damian stated.

“Of course, how could I forget,” Tikki laughed quietly, patting him on the cheek, to which he scrunched his nose a bit in surprise and confusion but didn’t pull away. “Are you going to remain out of sight for a while after this? I know how much you care about the rules.”

Damian’s gaze trailed over to Marinette, lingering for a long moment before he answered, “I will stay out of sight for a bit, yes. I would not want to give Alfred too much work so suddenly. However, showing myself to her more often may not be so bad. It is one of the less serious rules.”

Tikki smiled, amusement dancing in her eyes. “Of course,” she laughed, “wouldn’t want to strain poor Alfred, it’s not as if your brothers and fathers don’t show themselves much more often than most angels would dare to or anything.”

Damian shot her a glare, but there was no real heat behind it. He knew she was right, and he knew that she knew it. He shook his head slightly before his form slowly faded from any human’s sight, leaving Marinette to get some decent rest for the remainder of the night.

Many days passed without much trouble, excluding the akumas she had to fight each day and the flirting from Chat she had found amusing and almost endearing at first had begun to irritate her. Then came Princess Fragrance and the discovery of Master Fu. 

Damian had evidently had a few choice words to say to the old man about making Marinette a superhero and putting that much stress on her, but Marinette had managed to calm him down some. They were able to take care of Tikki and cleanse the akuma, and if Mari noticed how her angel had actually worried about the kwami she didn’t say anything, merely smiling softly. Damian had taken to showing himself to her every couple of days, and she cherished the time they spent talking, although admittedly he did more listening than talking.

Damian had quickly adopted the task of helping her when and where he could, catching her if she fell too far too fast to swing her yoyo during a battle, getting things ready for her to get ready for bed faster in order to get more rest, even helping her with homework she didn’t understand.

She had begun referring to him as Robin whenever she was wearing the mask, on the off chance anyone heard her and realized her angel was one-and-the-same with Marinette’s. So far Paris was unaware of her angel, though people suspected she had one as most humans did. Others thought that perhaps she didn’t, as Chat Noir was certainly not her angel and they hadn’t seen any angel come to help her in battle.

Damian and Marinette had been spending more time together, something that his family had taken notice of. Particularly, one of his older brothers. Dick Grayson had always wanted Damian to become Marinette’s angel, he had always been of the belief that the two would be good for each other. When Damian had become her angel? Dick almost squealed with delight, not that he would admit that out loud.

“What are you thinking of?” Dick’s ward, Tom, asked startling Dick out of his thoughts. 

“Damian and Marinette. When Damian first came to us he was so… mechanical almost. He was raised being told he had to be perfect and that others were beneath him. It’s refreshing to see him actually behaving like a child and having fun, and to see him show that he actually cares about someone,” Tom listened carefully as Dick answered.

“He’s a good kid,” Tom spoke up, “I know she was happy before, but she seems even happier now that he’s around and sometimes he can actually get her up and moving so she isn’t late to school. He’s good for her, and I can see on your face how proud of him you are.”

“Yea. I really am proud of him.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, a big thanks to my beta readers @mysnis @animusmelodiam @rhub4rb @justarandomtumblerblog @royalchaoticfangirl and @particularlygeeky on tumblr as well as the awesome beta readers in the Maribat discord!!

“So the Winged Menace finally got himself a ward, and then he neglects to invite us to see her for months?”

Damian groaned as soon as the voice reached his ears, turning to fix the speaker with one of his nastier glares. He was met with four amused expressions and one simple quirked brow from Alfred.

“Father, Alfred, Grayson, Drake, and Todd. What are you doing here?”

“Well, Bruce and I already know Mari, but everyone else wanted to get a look at your ward,” Dick spoke up, drawing Damian’s gaze away from Jason. The only response he got was a click of the tongue. Jason Todd walked over to Marinette, eyeing her closely as if looking for something, though no one knew what he would be looking for in the first place.

“How on earth did Winged Menace get such a cute ward?”

“Actually, I already knew Mari because of Clara Nightingale since Nathalie is her assistant, I just hadn’t been made aware she was Damian’s ward,” Tim spoke up, giving a small wave to Marinette when she sent a smile his way.

“Hi Tim, Bruce, and Dick,” she greeted warmly, then she turned toward Jason with curiosity. “It’s nice to meet you,” she paused, waiting for his name.  
“Jason Todd, nice to meet you too sweetheart,” he quickly supplied before turning towards the rest of his family. “So you all knew her before me? That’s not fair!”

“Don’t pout like a baby, Todd”

Jason sent a withering glare to Damian, which Damian returned until Marinette stepped in.

“So, Tim, how is Nathalie doing? I know you said things were rough when she quit being Gabriel’s assistant and it was a little rocky when she first started working for Clara.”

“She’s doing a lot better, Clara is really good for her.” 

“Good, I’m glad, I was the one who recommended Clara after all,” Marinette grinned.

“Wait wait wait, you’re the one who recommended Nathalie work for Clara?” Jason cut in. Marinette nodded, explaining how she had known Clara since she was very young, she was a family friend. When Clara had been in need of an assistant, and Nathalie needed out, she informed Tim of the opening and spoke to Clara herself.

“So you’re the one Tim told me about, the one who likes to design, knows Clara Nightingale personally, and knows Jagged Stone on top of that!”

Marinette nodded slowly, shyly even, as if she hadn’t expected anyone to talk about her.

“Guys you kept the coolest person from me while the rest of you got to meet her?” Jason pouted even more. Marinette couldn’t help but giggle at his antics, which caused him to shoot her a mischievous grin.

“Don’t you people have your own wards to bother? Marinette has work to do,” Damian finally cut in, fixing his family with a glare. They all shrugged before slowly departing, Damian letting out a sigh as the last one left. Marinette fixed him with an amused look, which earned her a glare with no real heat behind it that quickly softened. He never was able to stay angry at her, even if the anger was in jest.

“I was serious about that work, get your homework done now so you won’t have to wake up early and do it.”

The next morning everyone at school was talking about some new girl, Lila. Marinette took notice of how she immediately went for Adrien. Mari hadn’t initially liked the boy, assuming that he was as bad as Chloe, but he had apologized and she had given him a chance. They were friends, as she was with Nino and Alya, so she worried about Adrien being taken advantage of by those with greedy intentions. Especially when Marinette saw, and heard, most of the ridiculous tales she was telling. 

Then there was the book, and Lila’s bigger lie, being rescued by and friends with Ladybug, as well as being a superhero herself. Marinette was angered by the girl trying to take advantage of her friend in such a way, and quickly exposed the liar for what she was. Lila didn't like that, but Marinette found she didn't care. She wondered if Damian was rubbing off on her a little bit. 

Volpina was quite the annoying fight. Marinette couldn't deny she was disappointed with how quickly Chat Noir fell for her tricks. The supposed meteor would have raised alarms long before it would have been visible in earth's atmosphere for crying out loud! And no human she knew of, magical powers or not, could leap at a raging ball of fire and catch it without so much as a small burn. Frankly, she worried Chat Noir would believe just about anything except for when she says she doesn't have feelings for him.

Then there was Lila's parting words, and how she seemed to despise Ladybug now.

"I really messed up with Lila, didn't I?" Marinette sat in her room, shoulders hunched and head low. 

"You were protecting your friends from harmful lies that could provide false hope," Damian responded matter-of-factly. 

"Well, yea but she got akumatized because of me."

"She would have gotten akumatized no matter when her lies were exposed, Marinette. You simply accelerated the process a bit," he reasoned. She gave him a blank stare.

"Marinette sometimes people make bad choices and are upset when they get caught and, seeing as Hawkmoth preys on negativity, situations like these will happen. It's not something that can be avoided forever." 

Marinette sent him a soft smile, and he smiled in return. He pat her shoulder comfortingly before picking up the book they had grabbed from the trash.

"Now, shall we bring this book to Fu?”


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bet y’all were starting to expect this would never get updated. Well, ya girl is finally in a good headspace after so long and I finally feel more in control of my life again! I know it’s been a long time, but I hope you guys still enjoy this?

Master Fu had been a bit more involved after Damian had quite loudly expressed his opinions of the man when they went to get Tikki healed, something Marinette was grateful for. While Damian still felt Marinette wasn’t getting the proper mentoring she deserved, he acknowledged that Fu was indeed old. That and Marinette had made him promise to lay off the old man a little. Fu had already explained a bit of his past to the two, he had spoken of making a mistake that cost him and the other guardians dearly. It had garnered Marinette’s sympathies. Fu spoke of all that was lost, emotionally and physically. One particular item was the Miraculous Book, which is what they suspected they held in their hands, even if they couldn’t decipher the language.

When Fu revealed Hawkmoth may very well be the owner, Damian saw the concern in Marinette’s eyes. She cared deeply for her friends, and felt just as deeply. Damian knew a betrayal like that would hurt her immensely. He silently vowed he would hunt Adrien down himself if that were the case, however, the boy seemed too oblivious and glaringly, problematically pacifistic to be a hidden terrorist. He would have given himself away much earlier on.

“Adrien Agreste had the book,” Marinette admitted quietly.

“Though it is highly unlikely he is Hawkmoth, Fu,” Damian spoke up to Marinette’s surprise. “He doesn’t seem capable of such elaborate schemes. It seems more likely he discovered it within his house and grabbed it out of curiosity. He seems the type to act without thinking too hard about how it could affect the future.

"Marinette frowned a little, as if thinking of speaking up to Adrien’s defense but not wanting to start an argument.

"We’ll investigate the matter further, Master Fu,” Marinette proposed and Damian felt a flash of annoyance. How is it that everything always fell on Marinette’s shoulders? That she always felt the need to take everyone’s burdens as her own? “Thank you, Marinette. I will be doing some investigating of my own as well,” Master Fu replied, easing some of Damian’s frustration.

“We should bring the book back,” Damian suggested. “If it really was Hawkmoth who had the book, we don’t want him to know we’re onto him. We shouldn’t let him know that we even know about the book.” Fu was against it until Marinette helped to get digital copies of the pages for himself.

What Damian hadn’t expected, however, was for Marinette to go to Gabriel and take the blame. He was starting to get tired of her being everyone’s scapegoat, and her being okay with it, even willing to fill that role at this point. Marinette was flattered he felt so strongly about it, and she reassured him it was fine and that she was used to going out of her way for her friends. He had already figured out as much from being her guardian angel for a few years, but he was beginning to question just how much he knew about. This did little to make him feel better, but he dropped the topic. Particularly because Gabriel had been akumatized and that required their attention.

Chat Noir seemed to take this to mean the man couldn’t possibly be Hawkmoth, as Ladybug had told her partner of her suspicions, but Marinette and Damian had their doubts. They would definitely keep an eye on the man.

Marinette was always more willing to give others the benefit of the doubt than Damian, so when even she didn’t seem like it had eased her suspicions he knew it was something worth looking into. However, Damian insisted she still live her life and spend time with friends and on her school work so Marinette couldn’t devote all her time to looking into Gabriel Agreste.

Days passed as the investigation went on, and Damian made sure Marinette had time to continue being Ladybug as well as Marinette and get her work done and still have time for hobbies and the like, even if that meant leaving her side for an hour or two at a time to investigate so she could sleep or simply relax. Admittedly, even when he tried to get her time to relax her friends would seem to ask for things in those moments. A new dress that Marinette would pull several all-nighters to make, a dessert that she would sacrifice some much-needed relaxation for, and so on.

Damian knew that Marinette was a very kindhearted soul, but he wished she wouldn’t give so many people the benefit of the doubt so often, dismissing the idea her friends were just using her. Frankly, in Damian’s opinion, even if they didn’t mean to, her friends did in fact use her. They constantly asked for free things or expected them even.

After class one day she remained while everyone else slowly filtered out, taking her time to gather her things. Everyone left, everyone except Chloe, speaking of people Marinette would give the benefit of the doubt though not nearly as much as she gave the rest of the class.

He watched the blonde wearily, suspicious as always despite Marinette trying to reassure him constantly that she was fine and Chloe was no threat. The only reason he tolerated the girl coming near Marinette now was that Marinette didn’t tell her to leave, nor did she try to leave herself. That and the fact that Chloe’s guardian angel was giving him a reassuring look insinuating that Chloe was not coming over to be antagonistic this time.

What he did expect, however, was the next word out of her mouth.

“I’m sorry,” she said, though it seemed to take her a bit to get the word out. She fiddled with her hands, clearly nervous and unsure how to proceed. “For…everything.”

Marinette blinked, staring at Chloe with her mouth just barely making the ‘o’ shape for a moment. Chloe seemed to grow even more nervous, if that were possible, as she kept looking all around the room and only glanced back at Marinette’s expression for a fleeting moment.

“You don’t need to respond,” Chloe responded, a bit haughtily though Damian could tell it was more of a defense mechanism than anything. Marinette seemed to understand that too, if her smile was anything to go by.

“Thank you for apologizing, Chloe.” Chloe looked at her with surprise for a long moment, evidently she must have been expecting a more hostile reaction, which would have been justified in Damian’s opinion considering the bullying everyone’s been forced to endure. After a few moments Chloe huffed.

“Well…just don’t read too far into this, it’s not like I want to be friends or anything!” She turned to go only to pause and wince, her own angel gently reprimanding her reaction while commending the fact that she apologized. Marinette shot Damian a confused look that reminded Damian that currently only he could see the other angel, as it seemed Chloe could only hear her right now if her looking around carefully was anything to go by as she left.

Damian turned back to Marinette, her eyebrow raised as she looked at him for a long moment.

“Her current angel is good for her,” was all he offered, and it was all Marinette seemed to need as she smiled and finished gathering her things to begin her walk home with Damian by her side.


End file.
